Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 15, 2025 33 GAME PREVIEW: PITTSBURGH current head coach Marcus Freeman poached Notre Dame redshirt sopho- more quarterback Kenny Minchey out of Pitt's recruiting class late in the 2023 recruiting cycle. Not to mention Narduzzi is one of the most outspoken critics of Notre Dame not being a full-time member of the ACC and having only a five- game annual commitment. But the Panthers, behind true freshman quarterback M a s o n H e i n ts c h e l , h ave evolved way beyond poten- tial spoiler, winning the five games the Oregon, Ohio, product has started after going 2-2 with former Ala- bama transfer and incumbent starter Eli Holstein at the controls of the Panther offense this season. They debuted at No. 24, in fact, in the initial College Football Playoff Top 25 Nov. 4 and have a pathway to perhaps find a backdoor into the playoff if they can sweep the Irish, Georgia Tech and Miami to end the regular season. They would need some help, though, to reach the ACC championship game, including for Louisville to drop another conference game, with the Cardinals having dealt Pitt its only conference loss. But perhaps an at-large route opens up with a strong finish? Heintschel, meanwhile, has created some Heisman buzz, at least locally, in the form of "Heintschel for Heisman" hoodie giveaways. That after garnering a modest eight scholarship offers com- ing out of high school, and with Pitt being the only Power Four offer. The others came from Akron, Bowl- ing Green, Coastal Carolina, Kent State, Liberty, Ohio and Toledo. Holstein, meanwhile, had 10 scholar- ship offers from SEC schools alone. Heintschel's early milestones include throwing at least 3 touchdown passes in three of the last five games. He has thrown for more than 300 yards in four of those five games. And Heintschel is the first true freshman in the FBS to re- cord at least 3 touchdown passes and 300 passing yards in three of his first six ca- reer games since Jameis Winston in 2013. Heintschel is tied for the second- most such games by a true freshman since 2000 (Louisiana Tech's Luke Mc- Cown and North Carolina State's Philip Rivers). And in each one of his starts, Heintschel has now led the Panthers to a first- drive touchdown. He'll be facing an Irish team that ranked 31st nation- ally in pass efficiency defense heading into last the matchup with run- heavy Navy Nov. 8 after sitting at No. 103 three games into the 2025 season. In his last game, Heintschel threw for 304 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 35-20 win at Stanford Nov. 1, but also threw 2 picks, and the Panthers had two more turnovers on fumbles. "He's a true freshman," Narduzzi be- gan of Heintschel in his postgame re- marks at Stanford. "What stands out most about him is those turnovers at the end, but he'll learn from them. There are some times he made some great plays. We'll take the great plays. We've got to clean up the bad ones, but he's got a lot of moxie for a young quarterback." Facts & Figures NOTRE DAME AT PITT Date: Nov. 15, 2025 Site (Capacity): Acrisure Stadium (68,400) Kickoff: 12 p.m. ET Television: ABC Radio: This game can be heard on Notre Dame IMG affiliates. Series Facts: Notre Dame leads 51-21-1. The Irish won the last meeting 58-7 in South Bend on Oct. 28, 2023. Head coaches: Pitt — Pat Narduzzi (79-58 at Pitt, 11th year); Notre Dame — Marcus Free- man (40-12, 4th season). Noting Pitt: Redshirt junior linebacker Kyle Louis was named a first-team All-American by Sporting News last season. He was the first Pitt defender to earn such notice in his second year since Hugh Green in 1978. Green was an eventual Heisman Trophy runner-up … During Narduzzi's 11-year run at Pitt, only Clemson (73) has more ACC regular-season wins than Pitt (51) in that span. Miami is tied with Pitt for second … Pitt is the most-penalized team on the Irish schedule and 11th in the FBS, at almost 70 yards per game. 2025 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time (ET)/Result Aug. 31 at Miami L, 27-24 Sept. 13 Texas A&M L, 41-40 Sept. 20 Purdue W, 56-30 Sept. 27 at Arkansas W, 56-13 Oct. 4 Boise State W, 28-7 Oct. 11 NC State W, 36-7 Oct. 18 Southern Cal W, 34-24 Nov. 1 at Boston College W, 25-10 Nov. 8 Navy W, 49-10 Nov. 15 at Pittsburgh (ABC) 12 p.m. Nov. 22 Syracuse (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 29 at Stanford TBA 2025 PITTSBURGH SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time (ET)/Result Aug. 30 Duquesne W, 61-9 Sept. 6 Central Michigan W, 45-17 Sept. 13 at West Virginia L, 31-24 (OT) Sept. 27 Louisville L, 34-27 Oct. 4 Boston College W, 48-7 Oct. 11 at Florida State W, 34-31 Oct. 18 at Syracuse W, 30-13 Oct. 25 NC State W, 53-34 Nov. 1 at Stanford W, 35-20 Nov. 15 Notre Dame (ABC) 12 p.m. Nov. 22 at Georgia Tech TBA Nov. 29 Miami TBA Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi holds an 0-4 record versus Notre Dame, with the last two results coming by a combined score of 103-10. PHOTO COURTESY PITTSBURGH ATHLETICS "This is what you play for. This is why you play these games. Got Notre Dame coming in, and we're going into the fourth quarter of the season." PITT HEAD COACH PAT NARDUZZI